


candy apple

by pududoll (aprilclash)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Growing Up Together, Kissing, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 15:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14718594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprilclash/pseuds/pududoll
Summary: Jaemin comes back from the capital with a mission or maybe three. First, buy Donghyuck a candy apple stick. Second, trick Donghyuck into confessing. Third, kissing Donghyuck. Not necessarily in this order.





	candy apple

**Author's Note:**

> \- gratuitous nahyuck  
> \- /whispers/ unbetaed  
> \- I wanted to gift this work to silvia but she fell asleep and i'm petty :<  
> \- I wrote this for fun and out of a personal whim and I hope you can enjoy it too. I surely had a good time while I was writing this ♥

“Look who came back from the big city! Come here, I want to hug you properly!”

Jaemin ignores the dirty looks he receives from the other people crowded at the candy apple stall as he disrupts the line to join Jeno on the other side of the counter.

“Wow, this feels familiar,” he says, looking at all the red, shiny apples lined up in front of him. “Are you alone?”

Jeno shakes his head. “No, Jisungie is here with me!”

As if summoned by his words, Park Jisung makes his appearance, carrying a batch of caramel apples. He almost drops them when he sees Jaemin.

“ _Hyung_! When did you come back?” he asks excitedly.

“Yesterday night! Wow, what is Auntie feeding you?”

Jisung shrugs, trying to hide how smug he is at being taller than Jaemin now. “I’m sorry for stealing your job, by the way.”

Jaemin laughs and tells him it’s nothing, he doesn’t need the extra money anymore. There’s, perhaps, a touch of nostalgia in his voice. Until last year (and for the past five years) Jaemin has always run the taffy apple booth with Jeno during Chilseok, but also during Chuseok and Lunar New Year and most of the all touristic folklore events that fill the streets of Gwangju with tourists and locals alike.

“I wasn’t sure I’d come back for this Chilseok. I have so many assignments, I can barely sleep at night,” he complains, and Jeno shakes his head as he serves three girls wearing the local high school’s uniform. He takes the time to wink at all of them.

“Be honest here,” he says, after he’s done, “you’re just having too much fun without us in Seoul, that’s why you didn’t want to come back!”

“Maybe I just didn’t want to see you,” Jaemin answers, but there’s not any real bite in his words, and Jeno smiles so hard his eyes disappear into crescent moons.

“Can you take care of the customers for a while, Jisungie? I have to punch my ex best friend!”

It’s been less than a year since Jaemin left to study in Seoul, but Jeno kinda looks taller already. Not as tall as Jaemin got, but definitely taller. And broader. And stronger. He must have been hitting the gym. The punch on Jaemin’s shoulder hurts, but the hug that follows is warm and smells faintly of sugar, like the taffy apple Jeno was holding only moments ago.

Jaemin hugs back, whispering a, “I missed you, fucker!”

They let go when Jeno’s mom calls from the next stall, where she’s frying _gyeran-ppang_ and _hotteok_.

“Jaeminie! If you’re not going to help, let my son work!”

Jaemin laughs again, knowing Jeno’s mom doesn’t really mean it, but he steps aside to let Jeno go back to the crowd waiting in line for a caramel apple.

“By the way, did you see Donghyuck?” Jeno asks, and Jaemin’s heart skips a beat. He doesn’t know if Jeno is talking about tonight or yesterday, because he definitely saw Donghyuck yesterday after he came back. And, from the curious look on Jeno’s face, he probably knows his two best friends met without him. Oh, the perks of living in a small town.

“Not yet,” Jaemin says, in the end, because it’s not a lie if he’s only talking about today. “The _pungmul nori_ performance is about to start, by the way. Will you come to see him?”

“Of course I am! My sister should take over in a few minutes, but I’m sure there are already too many people crowded in front of the stage. Unless Jungwoo can sneak us from the back.”

Well, Jungwoo will definitely sneak them from the back, so Jaemin leaves Jeno to his customers and goes to the neighboring stall to greet Mrs. Lee (and to scrounge a warm _hotteok_ maybe.)

They wait until Jeno’s sister arrives to relieve him of his duties and they dive into the colorful crowd that’s making its way towards Buyongjeong Pavilion for the traditional dance performance.

They’re too late and it is crowded, just like Jeno had predicted, but they make their way around the crowd to meet Jungwoo, who’s part of the planning committee and in charge of the stage security, behind the pavilion, and he sneaks them past the barrier in exchange for a taffy apple. 

The performance has already started. They can hear the rhythmic voice of the drums, and Jeno and Jisung are chattering about the identity of the new _buk_ drummer - because Hansol is in Busan for his aunt’s wedding so they had to ask Mrs. Seo’s nephew who arrived from America three weeks ago - but Jaemin stops listening to them as soon as they turn around the corner and they see the stage, as soon as he sees Donghyuck.

It’s Chilseok’s night and somewhere in the sky Jiknyeo and Gyeonwu are meeting on a bridge of crows and magpies. On the stage, the drummers are playing and the crowd is cheering and Lee Taeyong has taken the center of the stage with his acrobatic dance, but Jaemin barely notices any of that. Donghyuck looks so pretty in white, a small drum in his hands and the ribbon-hat drawing white arabesques around him.

Jaemin remembers with painful clarity the first time he saw Donghyuck training to dance in a _pungmul_ performance and told him he looked ugly. Back then, Jaemin was mean and petty and Donghyuck had just been chosen in his place, stealing the last spot in Mrs. Kim’s traditional dance class, and Jaemin maybe hated him a little. Oh, boy, was he dumb.

The music changes and Donghyuck jumps back, the white ribbon following his movements in a soft arch, and Jeno is saying something along the lines of Hyuck looking really pretty today - the only reason Jaemin hears him is that he said Hyuck’s name and Jaemin’s stomach somersaulted in jealousy - and then Donghyuck turns towards them and his eyes meet Jaemin’s and he almost misses a step and trips. He recovers immediately, and thankfully he was standing in the rear so it’s unlikely someone noticed. He keeps dancing and playing the drum and drawing sharp white lines in the air with the ribbon, but as he keeps dancing there’s a softness to his smile that belongs to Jaemin only and a tightness in Jaemin’s chest that belongs to Donghyuck only.

⭐

The night is young and clear and brightly lit and loud. Jeno leaves after the performance to go back to his food stall, just in time to catch the crowd as everyone comes back and sell more candies. Jaemin waves at the _janggu_ drummer, Dongyoung, and catches a pat on the back from Taeyong, together with the promise of catching up tomorrow during the _Gossaum_ festival, before Jaemin goes back to Seoul.

He scans the crowd for Donghyuck’s familiar tuft of unruly black hair, until someone catches him by the back of his shirt and whispers, “Did you enjoy the performance?”

Donghyuck’s voice is airy and maybe a little breathless and when he presses himself against Jaemin’s back he smells like sweat and adrenaline. Jaemin instinctively reaches for his hand.

“Jeno said you looked really pretty today,” he says, swirling Donghyuck until he can see his face. Donghyuck _is_ pretty, even with his hair sweaty and matted against his forehead, their usual fluffiness flattened by the hat. The white vest, decorated by hints of blue, red and yellow, only highlights the color of his skin and the redness flushing his face and ears. He lost the hat and Jaemin can ruffle his hair now. He tries, but Donghyuck ducks to avoid his hand.

“I don’t need Jeno’s compliments,” he mutters, looking to the side. Is that eyeliner? Did he put makeup on? He looks stunning.

“I think you look stunning,” Jaemin says. He tries to fight back the smile creeping at the corner of his lips when Donghyuck’s ears flush crimson, but Donghyuck sees it anyway and tries to yank his hand away. Jaemin holds tighter.

“You shouldn’t say things like that if you don’t mean them,” Donghyuck says, under his breath, and the chattering of the crowd almost takes the words away.

“Why do you think I don’t mean them?”

Donghyuck tiptoes to reach Jaemin’s ear, and it’s out of reflex that Jaemin leans down to meet him halfway.

“Because you’re leaving tomorrow,” Donghyuck whispers. “But I don’t care.”

“What do you mean?” he asks, but Donghyuck is already diving into the busy street and Jaemin has no other choice than to follow him.

“Where are you going?” he asks, his hands clamping down on Donghyuck’s wrist mere moments before the crowd swallows him whole.

“To Jeno’s! I want a candy apple!”

“There are too many people, it’ll take ages!”

“More time to spend together,” Donghyuck giggles. “Come on, it’s not like you have anything better to do.”

Jaemin sighs and intertwines their fingers together so they don’t get lost in the crowd.

Jeno looks at them funnily when they arrive and Jaemin’s facade crumbles under his worried gaze. They grew up together, the three of them, and there’s no one who knows Jaemin and Donghyuck better than him, so Jaemin is not really surprised when Jeno leans over the counter with the excuse of getting Jaemin’s money and asks, “Did something happen between you and Donghyuck?”

“Why?” Jaemin says, too busy staring at the bottom of his wallet to look at Jeno. “Do we look awkward to you?”

Jeno’s eyes narrow in a rare expression of disapproval. “I was right, something happened.”  
Jaemin swallows and hands Jeno the money for Donghyuck’s taffy apple. He turns towards Donghyuck before Jeno can add anything.

“Are you done? Wanna go to the park?”

Donghyuck beams. “Yay! See you tomorrow, Jeno!”

Jaemin can feel Jeno’s eyes boring a hole in his back as they make their way towards the park. Something happened, indeed.

He looks at Donghyuck, at the way he’s trying to crack the taffy apple broken so he can munch more of it. His lips are deep red, the color of the candy, and they must taste so sweet. They didn’t taste sweet yesterday, after dinner. They tasted spicy, like Donghyuck’s _kimchi_ fried rice, and nervous, like the anticipation before an exam, and they had parted so easily for Jaemin’s tongue, and Donghyuck had let out this soft little sound and Jaemin had almost lost it.

⭐

The story begins like this. A long time ago, when Donghyuck was short and tiny and ugly in a teenager-duckling sort of way, he fell in love with Jaemin.

Jaemin finds out by accident, overhearing a conversation between Donghyuck and Jeno. It’s almost summer and the air is hot and still and it’s going to rain soon. (Jaemin doesn’t remember exactly when, in summer, but it was probably around Chilseok because the night was thick with humidity, pregnant with tomorrow’s storm.)

They’re all spending the night after midterms together at Jeno’s house, playing games and eating burgers from the only Lotteria in town. Donghyuck is high on Coca-Cola and Jeno is naturally a late sleeper, so Jaemin falls asleep first, to soft beeps and dings and sbam and the 8bit jingle of Jeno’s favorite videogame. When he wakes up, it is to the white noise of the television and Donghyuck’s soft whispers. They’re huddled together, Jeno and Donghyuck, their black heads visible against the blue white screen of the TV, and it takes a couple of minutes for Donghyuck’s murmurs to take a shape and become real words in Jaemin’s sleepy head. 

“What do I do… If he hates me… I like him so much…”

Jaemin can just lay there, still, his eyes closed, perfectly awake, as Donghyuck tells Jeno how scared and stupid and confused he is, how much he likes Jaemin.

“You should confess,” Jeno says. “You know Jaemin. He likes Yerim. He’ll reject you and then things might be awkward, but you won’t fall apart. We can’t fall apart, Donghyuck. But at least you’ll get over him.”

And Jaemin agrees. Donghyuck is cute and silly and his best friend, nothing more. Donghyuck is also painfully, hopelessly crushing on the wrong person. _Please confess,_ he thinks. Confess soon and let’s go back to being best friends.

Donghyuck doesn’t confess. Jaemin waits and waits _and waits_. He learns to ignore the way Donghyuck clings to him, with a softness that doesn’t match the way his body goes all tense and tight whenever Jaemin touches him back. He pretends he doesn’t know why Donghyuck always falls asleep on his shoulder on the bus ride home, and never on Jeno’s. He sees the way Donghyuck looks at him and he looks back, straight at him, expecting Donghyuck to just... do something, grow some balls, fucking come over and take care of it, Lee Donghyuck.

Donghyuck blushes and hides behind a mean remark and tries to be more subtle, only looking at Jaemin when he thinks Jaemin isn’t looking. Except now, with this big secret hanging between them, this secret Jaemin should know nothing about, it’s even more difficult to ignore Donghyuck. Jaemin is hyperaware of him. He can’t help but follow Donghyuck, he can’t help but notice the way his smile softens when they’re together, the happiness melting into a sort of bitter melancholy when Jaemin leaves him to go out with some girl.

Jaemin and Yerim date and they break up. There are other girls. They date and they break up. Donghyuck still won’t confess.

They grow up. There’s CSAT to prepare and Jaemin needs to choose his university. He wants to go Seoul, he wants to do great things. He wants to fly. Na Jaemin grows taller and his voice grows deeper and his dreams grow bigger, but everything feels small and tight and painful when he watches his best friend live through unrequited love and heartbreak all of his own. (Except it’s not really his own, it kinda breaks Jaemin’s heart too.)

The last year before Jaemin leaves, he watches Donghyuck dance barefoot on the floor of the gym, making the ribbon hat spell out curse words and he watches Donghyuck try to learn _pansori_ and cry for a week when his throat can’t take the strain. He watches Donghyuck sleep through CSAT preparation because, “I don’t want to go to a famous university. I need to help mom with the shop anyway.” He watches Donghyuck go out with Park Siyeon a grand total of one time, and when he asks why Donghyuck looks desperate and cornered. He bites his lips and says, “I like someone else,” and this is it, this is the moment Jaemin has been waiting all this time, so he looks at Donghyuck, he waits, he waits. Donghyuck doesn’t say anything.

(Some days, Jaemin feels like all he does is watching Donghyuck, so of course he notices when Donghyuck avoids him for days after Jaemin announces he was admitted into Korea University, in Seoul.)

The day before he leaves, Donghyuck and Jeno take him to the bus station. He gets a hug from both. and when it’s Donghyuck’s turn Jaemin holds him extra tight. _I’m here,_ he wants to say. _You can tell me, you don’t have to bear this weight alone._

Donghyuck sniffles and rubs his eyes with the sleeve of his sweater and wishes him good luck. They both wave at him as the bus leaves.

Four months later, Jaemin comes back in town, drops his bag off at home and knocks at the Lees’ door. Donghyuck opens in his boxers and Pikachu socks. _Cute,_ Jaemin thinks, _cute, cute, cute_. The way Donghyuck blushes as he realizes it’s Jaemin, there, in flesh and blood and a purpose, is even cuter. Donghyuck makes them _kimchi_ fried rice and asks about university life in the big city. He talks about Jeno’s new girlfriend and the Chinese exchange kid living at Park Jisung’s house and he complains about how taxing practice for tomorrow’s dance performance has been lately.

Jaemin only lasts until dinner is over before he kisses him.

⭐

“You got a little bit of sugar here,” Jaemin says, rubbing at the corner of Donghyuck’s lips with his thumb. They’re sitting on a bench at the park and Donghyuck has managed to stuff the remaining half of taffy apple in his mouth. Jaemin pulls at the wooden stick and Donghyuck opens his mouth and lets him take it back. “You still haven’t thanked me for buying you this. Ungrateful brat.”

“Thank you, Na Jaemin, for your generosity.”

Jaemin hums and sucks the taffy apple in his mouth, ignoring Donghyuck’s panicked expression. “Ew, gross! You know that’s been in my mouth, right?”

The taffy apple leaves Jaemin’s lips with a pop. “My tongue has been in your mouth too yesterday night, and that wasn’t gross at all.”

That, at least, shuts Donghyuck up. Jaemin sees him open his mouth to say something, close it, open it again. Close it again. Swallow hard. Lick his lips.

_You can say it. I won’t run away. I’ve been waiting for you to say it for years._

“Are you sure you should joke about that?” Donghyuck says. His fingers close around Jaemin’s wrist and he leads the candy back into his mouth.

“Why? You didn’t like kissing me?”

Donghyuck’s ears flush a violent red, but his expression doesn’t change. He looks nervous and focused - and angry, and sexy, and Jaemin wants to kiss him again.

“Do you think it’s funny? I don’t know if you’re going through a weird experimenting phase, but...” He tries to get up, but Jaemin’s hand clamps on his wrist, pulling him back. When Donghyuck resists, he tightens his hold until Donghyuck grimaces.

“Let’s go back,” he says, “it’s late.” 

But Jaemin can’t go back now. Not yet. 

“Would it bother you, if this was just an experiment?” he asks, and Donghyuck almost hisses like a wild cat, but stop wriggling to break free.

“No, it wouldn’t. I gave up a long time ago and even that would be better than nothing. But I think it’d bother you, since for me it’s not an experiment at all! Yes, that’s right,” he spits in Jaemin’s face. “I like men! And I... I like you, so maybe you should find someone else for your little experiments, because if you kiss me again I’ll enjoy every second of it and I don’t care if you think it’s gross!”

Jaemin lets him go after that and Donghyuck covers his mouth with his hands and jumps to his feet, looking at Jaemin with big, terrified eyes, like a deer in headlights.

Jaemin lets himself enjoy Donghyuck’s words. It was a bit rushed and angrier than he’s always imagined it, but the location is nice enough. Colorful lantern lights, soft music coming from the streets and, in the sky, a bridge of magpies and crows to let two lovers cross the Milky Way. Perfect for a love confession.

“I know,” he says. He takes a step forward and Donghyuck takes one backwards. “I know you liked me and I know you’ve given up, years ago, but I’ve been waiting to hear these words since freshman year of high school. And I really think you’re stunning, so can I please kiss you again?”

Donghyuck stops and lets Jaemin close the distance between them. For years, Jaemin will remember the taste of that kiss, the sweetness of the candy apple spreading on his tongue, the warmth of Donghyuck’s hand laced on his nape, the blinking light of the stars shining from above. It doesn’t matter if tomorrow he’s leaving. He’ll come back, for Donghyuck.

**Author's Note:**

> I was looking at old pics of the first time I went to Korea and I found one of me trying to use the ribbon-hat and somehow this fic happened. (If you don't know what a _sangmo_ ribbon hat or a _pungmul_ performance are, go and document yourself because it's pretty funny stuff. Tho this is coming from someone who claims _pansori_ is interesting, so I might just be a boring person who knows.)  
>  -The fic is technically set in a village near Gwangju where every year a festival is held in the honor of Chilseok (the seventh day of the seventh month, when the herder and the weaver can finally meet over the Milky Way, aka one of my favorite festivities in the world.) Unfortunately, I was too lazy to proper research the geography of the village and I'm not Korean so there are probably a great number of inaccuracies. The same goes for the festival events. I have actually taken _pungmul_ classes and attended a couple of performances myself, but it was a long time ago and I am by no means an expert, so forgive eventual mistakes.  
>  Anyway thank you for reading! I really had a lot of fun and I hope it's not too over the top. I'm falling asleep now, but tomorrow I'll reread and edit the worse mistakes ;;  
> If you want, come and say hi @ aprilclaws su twitter <3


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